Replaceable printing type slug member



Man-d114, 1967 E. c. KARP 3,308,756

REPLACEABLE PRINTING TYPE SLUG MEMBER Filed Dec. 21, 1964 I "NW mkis g aw Em United States Patent OfiFice 3,308,756 REPLACEABLE PRINTING TYPE SLUG MEMBER Edward C. Karp, Belvidere, 111., assignor to Sanitary Scale Company, Belvidere, 111., a corporation of Iliinois Filed Dec. 21, 1964. Ser. No. 419,942 4 Claims. (Cl. 101-396) This invention relates in general to printing devices and the like. It deals more particularly with means for providing the indicia characters or type in a printing device.

It has become increasingly popular in recent years to prepackage various commodities; particularly in large grocery chains. To make such prepackaging truly economical a number of weighing-computing-printing scale complexes have been devised. They automatically weigh a commodity portion, compute its price based on the weight determined and a unit price factor preset into the computer component, and print a label for the packaged commodity. The label conventionally includes information as to the type and grade of the commodity, its price per pound (unit), weight, and price.

The actual printing is customarily performed by a printing component or printer responsive to the information provided by the computing component of the complex. The printer ordinarily incorporates self-contained apparatus for printing digits for indicating price and weight figures, as well as indicia of pounds, ounces, dollars, and cents. conventionally, however, the printer is adapted to receive replaceable insert elements or commodity information slugs carrying information as to the type and grade of commodity being packaged. The slugs required for full range operation of the complex might number in the hundreds, of course, since each identifies only one type or grade (or type and grade).

, It is an object of the present invention to provide a new and improved commodity information slug.

It is another object to provide a commodity information slug simply and inexpensively fabricated of sheet metal with embossed printing indicia.

It is another object to provide a commodity information slug wherein the embossed printing indicia are arranged in a manner which facilitates ready identification of the slugs in both stored and seated relationship on a printing device.

It is still another object to mation slug which means.

It is yet another object to provide a commodity information slug which incorporates improved means for retaining the slug in mounted relationship on the printing mechanism.

It is a further object to provide a commodity information slug incorporating improved means for properly positioning the slug in a printing mechanism.

The foregoing and other objects are realized in accord with the present invention by providing a commodity information slug which is die formed from a single blank of material, preferably stainless steel, and subsequently formed by embossing to imprint raised indicia of suitable commodity information on the slug. The die forming operation provides the slug with retaining means for mounting it securely on the mounting pedestal of a printing mechanism, positioning means for assuring that the slug is properly positioned for the printing operation, and retaining means for preventing the slug from being inadvertently jarred or vibrated out of position. In dicia are embossed on the slug so that it is readily identi provide a commodity inforincorporates improved mounting 3,308,756 Patented Mar. 14, 1967 fiable for this commodity information it represents both in its mounted position on a printing mechanism and in storage in a slug turret rack such as illustrated in the copending application of Edward C. Karp, Ser. No. 391,991, filed Aug. 25, 1964, now Patent No. 3,270,890, and entitled slug rack.

The invention, both as to its organization and method of operation, taken with further objects and advantages thereof, will best be understood by reference to the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is an end elevational view, partially diagrammatic, of commodity information slugs embodying features of the present invention mounted on the printing mechanism;

FIGURE 2 is a top plan view of one commodity information slug, taken along line 2-2 of FIGURE 1, with the printer mechanisms mounting pedestal removed fo clarity;

FIGURE 3 is a sectional view taken along line 3-3 of FIGURE 2, with the printing mechanism mounting pedestal illustrated once again;

FIGURE 4 is a sectional view taken along line 4-4 of FIGURE 2;

FIGURE 5 is a greatly enlarged plan view of a partially printed label taken along line 5-5 of FIGURE 1.

Referring now to the drawings, and particularly to FIGURE 1, a prinitng head assembly embodying features of the present invention is illustrated somewhat diagrammatically at 10. The head assembly actually forms a portion of a printer mechanism (not shown in its entirety) designed to automatically print labels for prepackaged commodities in the manner discussed in the copending application of Edward C. Karp, Ser. No. 358,672, filed Apr. 9, 1964, and entitled, Weighing Scale. Since the remainder of the printer mechanism forms no specific part of, the present invention, however, it is not illustrated.

The printing head assembly 10 includes a pair' of commodity information slugs 11 and 12 removably seated on a mounting pedestal713 positioned between a pair of printer ribbon spools 15 (only one shown). A printer ribbon 16 extends from one of the spools 15 under the slugs 11 and .12 to the opposite spool (not shown). The ribbon 16 thus passes between the slugs 11 and 12 and a strip 21 of paper or the like upon which commodity information is printed by the slugs 11 and 12.

In operation, each Weighing-computing-printing cycle of the entire complex, as discussed in the aforementioned copending application, normally culminates in the printing head assembly 13 imprinting indicia of commodity type, cut, grade, unit price, and portion price, on a label for application to the portion being weighed. In the printing head assembly 13 illustrated, the slug 12 is adapted to imprint indicia of the commodity type and cut on a label while the slug 11 imprints indcia of the grade, for example, thereon. In the same operation the printer also prints unit price and computed price for the commodity portion on a label. Since this function of the printer 10 is unrelated to the present invention, however, no illustration or detailed explanation of itsoperation is considered necessary.

Referring now particularlyto FIGURES 2-4, a commodity information slug 12 embodying features of the present invention is illustrated in substantial detail. The slug 12 comprises an elongated printing section 25 having a handle section 26 extending longitudinally therefrom.

The slug 12 is fabricated in a die forming process from a single piece of sheet material, preferably stainless steel, as has been pointed out.

The printing section of the slug 12 includes a Hat base 29 having converging side walls 39 extending upwardly therefrom. As best seen in FIGURE 4, the converging side walls thus form a dovetail slot 32 extending the length of the printing section 25 of the slug 12 and open at the free end of the printing section, as at 33.

Embossed downwardly from the base 29 of the printing section 25 in the slug 12 are the embossed indicia of commodity type and cut, in this case pork loin and rib end, as illustrated, With the commodity slug 12 mounted on the pedestal 13, as illustrated in FIGURE 1, these indicia 40 are adapted to print on the label blank strip 21 through the printer ribbon 16 in each cycle of the printer mechanism (not shown).

The slug 12 is mounted on the pedestal 13 by sliding the dovetail slot 32 over a correspondingly shaped mounting pedestal head 42 through the open mouth 33 of the printing section 25. To facilitate starting the slug 12 onto the pedestal 42, the open mouth 33 of the slot 32 is flared outwardly at its sides, as at the corners 44 of the upstanding side walls 39 of the printing section 25.

The commodity information slug 12 slides onto the pedestal head 42 until a stop finger 47 formed upwardly from the base 29 of the printing section 25 engages the outer end 48 of the pedestal head 42, as seen in FIGURE 3. The stop finger 47 is positioned to stop the insertion of the slug 12 in precisely the proper position for printing on the label blank strip 21, of course. When the slug has reached this position, a retaining dimple formed upwardly from the base 29 has slipped into a conically formed depression 51 extending upwardly into the bottom 52 of the pedestal head 42 The dimple seated in the depression SI serves to prevent inadvertent movement of the slug from its properly positioned mounting on the pedestal head d2.

With the slug 12 mounted on the pedestal head 42 as illustrated in FIGURES l and 3, the handle section 26 extends outwardly of the pedestal 13, as illustrated. In fact, the handle section 26 extends outwardly of the printer mechanism (not shown) entirely into view of the operator for the weighing-computing-printer complex. He can readily identify the seated commodity slug by virtue of the fact that indicia 55 identical to the indicia 49 of the commodity type and out are embossed in the base 56 of the handle section 26. These indicia 55 are ordinarily treated on their upper surface with pigment to make them stand out more readily against the background of the stainless steel base 56. Relatively short walls 57 extend upwardly from the base 56 of the handle section 26 and provide rigidity for it, while an upwardly extending tab 6%) at the free end of the handle section 26 affords the operator a grip to remove (and insert) the slug 12 from mounted relationship on the pedestal 13.

The slug 12 is substantially identical in construction to the slug 11, which is mounted on the adjacent pedestal head 61, as illustrated. The two slugs 11 and 12 are different only in that one line of indicia 55 is provided on the slug 11 while the two lines of indicia 40 illustrated are provided on the slug 12. The result is that the slug 11 is somewhat narrower than the slug 12 and, accordingly, its pedestal head 61 is also. Otherwise, the slugs 11 and 12 are identical.

It should now be recognized that a simply and inexpensively fabricated commodity slug 12 (or 11) which alfords numerous operational advantages has been illustrated and described. The slug 12 (or 11) is readily slipped into and out of mounted relationship on a printer. Furthermore, it is, precisely positioned automatically when inserted and solidly retained against inadvertent movement or removal.

Since the printing indicia 45) are actually embossed in the base 29 of the stainless steel slug 12, they are virtually indestructible and normally last for the life of the printer 19. Furthermore, periodic inking of the indicia 40 or an ink roller is not required since the indicia print through ribbon 16. In contrast, slugs presently on the market use resilient indicia which require continuous ink ing by hand or roller, for example. The operational life of such slugs is considerably shorter.

Each slug 11 (or 12) is so marked that it can quickly be identified whether stored in a rack or seated on a printer. In addition, the indicia for both printing and identification are embossed in the same way by the same process to minimize production costs. The slugs 11 and 12 can be rapidly embossed with any legend or character, strictly to order, upon short notice and at nominal cost. Each slug order is a custom job which can be run oil in a matter of hours and no inventory of embossed slugs is required. This is an important factor inasmuch as two or three thousand legends are required in the trade.

While the embodiment described herein is at present considered to be preferred, it is understood that various modifications and improvements may be made therein, and it is intended to cover in the appended claims all such modifications and improvements as fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention.

What is desired to be claimed and secured by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. A replaceable slug member adapted to cooperate with printing means to provide indicia for printing commodity information and the like on labels, comprising: an elongated printing section, and a handle section extending longitudinally from said printing section, said printing section and said handle section being fabricated unitarily from a single piece of sheet metal, said printing section including a relatively flat base and converging Walls extending upwardly therefrom to define a dovetail slot, said handle section including a relatively that base and walls extending upwardlytherefrom, said dovetail slot in said printing section adapted to grip a generally correspondingly shaped mounting pedestal on the printing means to retain said slug in seated relationship thereon, printing indicia embossed on said relatively flat base of said printing section, and tab means extending upwardly from the base of said handle section at the free end thereof to facilitate inserting and removing said slug member from said printing means.

2. The replaceable slug member of claim 1 further characterized in that said dovetail slot is open at the free end of'said printing section to form a mouth, said slug member adapted to be mounted on the pedestal by sliding the dovetail slot onto the correspondingly shaped pedestal through said mouth, said converging walls being bent slightly outwardly adjacent said mouth to more easily facilitate slipping said slot onto the pedestal.

3. A replaceable slug member adapted to cooperate with printing means to provide indicia for printing commodity information and the like on labels, comprising: an elongated printing section, and a handle section extending longitudinally from said printing section, said printing section and said handle section being fabricated out of a single piece of sheet material, said printing section including a relatively fiat base and converging side walls extending upwardly therefrom to define a dovetail slot, said dovetail slot in said printing section adapted to grip a correspondingly shaped mounted pedestal on the printing means to retain said slug in seated relationship thereon with said flat base underneath the pedestal, predetermined indicia embossed downwardly'from said relatively fiat base of said printing section to form type characters, said handle section including a relatively fiat base and upstanding side walls, and said predetermined indicia also embossed downwardly from the relatively flat base of said handle section to afford identification of said slug member in stored or mounted relationship, said type in;

dicia and said identification indicia on both said printing section and said handle section being readable down between said upstanding walls from above.

4. The replaceable slug member of claim 3 further characterized in that said dovetail slot is open at the free end of said printing section to form a month, said slug member adapted to be mounted on the pedestal by sliding the dovetail slot onto the correspondingly shaped pedestal through said month, said converging Walls being flared outwardly adjacent said mouth, to more easily facilitate slipping said slot onto the pedestal.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS Bernard 16-110 Thomas 101-109 Goldrick 101-368 Tannery 101-405 X Allen et a1 101-333 X 10 ROBERT E. PULFREY, Primary Examiner.

J. R. FISHER, Assistant Examiner. 

1. A REPLACEABLE SLUG MEMBER ADAPTED TO COOPERATE WITH PRINTING MEANS TO PROVIDE INDICIA FOR PRINTING COMMODITY INFORMATION AND THE LIKE ON LABELS, COMPRISING: AN ELONGATED PRINTING SECTION, AND A HANDLE SECTION EXTENDING LONGITUDINALLY FROM SAID PRINTING SECTION, SAID PRINTING SECTION AND SAID HANDLE SECTION BEING FABRICATED UNITARILY FROM A SINGLE PIECE OF SHEET METAL, SAID PRINTING SECTION INCLUDING A RELATIVELY FLAT BASE AND CONVERGING WALLS EXTENDING UPWARDLY THEREFROM TO DEFINE A DOVETAIL SLOT, SAID HANDLE SECTION INCLUDING A RELATIVELY FLAT BASE AND WALLS EXTENDING UPWARDLY THEREFROM, SAID DOVETAIL SLOT IN SAID PRINTING SECTION ADAPTED TO GRIP A GENERALLY CORRESPONDINGLY SHAPED MOUNTING PEDESTAL ON THE PRINTING MEANS TO RETAIN SAID SLUG IN SEATED RELATIONSHIP THEREON, PRINTING INDICIA EMBOSSED ON SAID RELATIVELY FLAT BASE OF SAID PRINTING SECTION, AND TAB MEANS EXTENDING UPWARDLY FROM THE BASE OF SAID HANDLE SECTION AT THE FREE END THEREOF TO FACILITATE INSERTING AND REMOVING SAID SLUG MEMBER FROM SAID PRINTING MEANS. 